In the minors Gerrit Cole‘s strikeout rate never quite matched his excellent raw stuff, as the former No. 1 overall pick totaled a modest 114 strikeouts in 133 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.

After being called up to the Pirates in June he continued to miss an underwhelming number of bats, managing just 29 strikeouts in his first 49 innings and failing to whiff more than five batters in any of his first eight starts.

Lately, however, Cole has started racking up strikeouts. Today he whiffed a dozen Padres in six innings, which gives Cole a total of 65 strikeouts in 63 innings since July 28. Overall this season he has a 3.23 ERA and 94/27 K/BB ratio in 111 innings while allowing just seven homers as a 22-year-old rookie, which is one of many reasons why the Pirates’ success is likely to continue long past this season.

Burnett started the year as the clear #1 pitcher. Jeff Locke ripped that from him by the end of April. Liriano stole it from Locke in July. Morton took it from Liriano for the month of August. And now, Cole has yanked it from Morton.

What a strange year. I’d like to see more consistency, but it’s great to see so many young guys coming on strong.